Field testing an approach to support forest-based community businesses in the Caribbean

Description of project:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) funded a US$33,000 project to support the development of three forest based enterprises in six Caribbean countries – Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.  Between 2013 and 2014, CANARI, along with 23 forest managers in the six countries, developed criteria that were then used to choose three projects that were awarded small grants of US$5,000 each to develop their enterprises.  The awardees were the Smithfield Local Forest Management Committee of Jamaica, the North Leeward Tourism Association of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Brasso Seco Tourism Action Committee of Trinidad and Tobago.  Each awardee was assigned a mentor to support its project activities.

Highlights

  • Forest managers in the Caribbean working together to support the development of forest-based enterprises.
  • Forest users in three Caribbean countries develop their forest-based enterprises

 Key activities and results:

  • Development of criteria for the selection of community organisations that are currently engaged in operating a sustainable forest-based business, with input from experts and forest managers in the project countries.
  • Application of criteria to select three organisations to engage in the project, with input from experts and forest managers in the project countries.
  • Assistance to community organisations to submit proposals for projects.
  • Assessment and selection of proposals and small grants awarded to the three community organisations.
  • Monitoring project implementation, including assisting with preparation of project reports by the three community organisations.
  • Documentation and dissemination of lessons learnt

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For more information, contact Nicole Leotaud, Executive Director nicole@canari.org

See related work under CANARI’s Civil Society and Governance and Capacity building programmes.

Tags: Forest management, Forest manager, Community forestry.